Aiding The Blind

Updated on: Saturday, May 14, 2011

An NGO working for the visually challenged in Kolkata donated 15 titles, in both English and Bengali to nine schools for blind in the vicinity of the city. Called the 'Third Eye' , it also distributed the first and second volumes of Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitabitan in Braille edition, in association with National Association for the Blind.

Mahua Seth, founder trustee, The Third Eye Charitable Trust, said, “It is a small beginning. But we have great plans. Till now the visually challenged kids had no access to story-books. We plan to open up a world for them with Braille editions of fictions, classics and non-fictions.”

She went on to add, “Till now they heard stories. Now they can touch and feel the words. We have already acquired titles from publications like Penguin, Tulika, Scholastic and a few others and have published Braille books in Tamil, English, Hindi and Bengali.”

Dr Kanchan Gaba, secretary, National Association for Blind, West Bengal, said, “Braille is still very relevant to a blind child. These Braille books will help them touch the words, know spellings and educate them in the true sense. It is a great venture and we are happy to be a part of it.”

Mita Banerjee, secretary to the govt., department of disabilities, government of West Bengal, said, “We are happy that such novel efforts have been taken. If we can be a part of such programmes we will only be too happy. All we need is a call from your end.”

Vishnupriya of Third Eye further informed that they have plans to bring out an online newspaper and magazine for the visually impaired in the near future. This will help them to hear news updates and keep themselves abreast with the developments around them. It will be done in sync with Web Cotent Access Guidelines 2.0.

Representatives from nine blind schools were present. They included Narendrapur Blind Boys’ Academy, Light House for the Blind, Calcutta Blind School, Behala, Voice of World, Behala and Society for Visually Handicapped. Besides, books were also given to the Blind section of Calcutta University.

Aiding The Blind

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